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Sausage Making

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
I cannot be stopped.

View attachment 1073281

It's an attempt at a "corned beef" sausage for next week. We'll see.

I'm trying to decide how I want to cook them. I may smoke some and poach some to see each turns out. That way, I can can have corned beef and pastrami!
It's like eating potato chips, once you eat one you can't stop.

....and then weenies are flying out everywhere.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
I cannot be stopped.

View attachment 1073281

It's an attempt at a "corned beef" sausage for next week. We'll see.

I'm trying to decide how I want to cook them. I may smoke some and poach some to see each turns out. That way, I can can have corned beef and pastrami!
Oh, man... That sounds really intriguing. I'd love to hear about how they turn out. :) Did you come up with the idea yourself? I can't say that I've heard of anyone doing that.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
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The "corned beef" sausage came out pretty good for a first attempt. I need to play around with the spices and probably cut back the salt a little, but we're on the right track. It actually tastes something of corned beef (and that's just fun), but I want to amp that up a bit. I'm looking forward to the next attempt!

Did you come up with the idea yourself? I can't say that I've heard of anyone doing that.

I came up with the idea when I realized it was too late to start corning my own brisket for Tuesday. I figured that the much shorter curing period for sausage might bail me out. I hadn't heard of anyone doing it, either, and that was reflected in the lack of recipes or discussion that came from my research. Plenty of folks have made sausage by grinding up already corned beef, but only one recipe (for "pastrami sausage") started with fresh beef and cured it. I pulled from that recipe and a few other things and just ginned something up.

It's a good sausage, but it's not quite as "corned beef" as I want it. I've gone back to the recipe I use for pickling spice (something I neglected to do in the first place) to make revisions.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
View attachment 1073918View attachment 1073919

The "corned beef" sausage came out pretty good for a first attempt. I need to play around with the spices and probably cut back the salt a little, but we're on the right track. It actually tastes something of corned beef (and that's just fun), but I want to amp that up a bit. I'm looking forward to the next attempt!



I came up with the idea when I realized it was too late to start corning my own brisket for Tuesday. I figured that the much shorter curing period for sausage might bail me out. I hadn't heard of anyone doing it, either, and that was reflected in the lack of recipes or discussion that came from my research. Plenty of folks have made sausage by grinding up already corned beef, but only one recipe (for "pastrami sausage") started with fresh beef and cured it. I pulled from that recipe and a few other things and just ginned something up.

It's a good sausage, but it's not quite as "corned beef" as I want it. I've gone back to the recipe I use for pickling spice (something I neglected to do in the first place) to make revisions.
Looking great.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
I came up with the idea when I realized it was too late to start corning my own brisket for Tuesday. I figured that the much shorter curing period for sausage might bail me out. I hadn't heard of anyone doing it, either, and that was reflected in the lack of recipes or discussion that came from my research. Plenty of folks have made sausage by grinding up already corned beef, but only one recipe (for "pastrami sausage") started with fresh beef and cured it. I pulled from that recipe and a few other things and just ginned something up.

It's a good sausage, but it's not quite as "corned beef" as I want it. I've gone back to the recipe I use for pickling spice (something I negle

They look amazing. Awesome idea. I don't often do it anymore, but I used to love trying to make creative recipes like that.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I got antsy over the weekend, so I made up another batch of the "corned beef" sausage. I played around with the spices and did most of the cooking with the sous vide wand (finishing with a little bit of smoke). I don't mean to toot my horn too loudly, but these came out pretty dadgum good and are more than mere novelty. It might be more than a seasonal, St. Patrick's Day item around here. That said, I intend to mess around with something else for my next batch of sausage.

Fresh out of the sous vide:

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On last night's dinner plate (with some fresh soda bread, cabbage & onions, Irish cheddar, and a tasty Guinness):

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oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
I got antsy over the weekend, so I made up another batch of the "corned beef" sausage. I played around with the spices and did most of the cooking with the sous vide wand (finishing with a little bit of smoke). I don't mean to toot my horn too loudly, but these came out pretty dadgum good and are more than mere novelty. It might be more than a seasonal, St. Patrick's Day item around here. That said, I intend to mess around with something else for my next batch of sausage.

Fresh out of the sous vide:

View attachment 1075648

On last night's dinner plate (with some fresh soda bread, cabbage & onions, Irish cheddar, and a tasty Guinness):

View attachment 1075649
Nice, I can almost taste the cabbage and onions.
 

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
Doak, so are saying you bought some corned beef from the market, added your own spices and made sausage or are you saying you made the corned beef yourself and then made sausage with yours? Either way it looks very good.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
I don't mean to toot my horn too loudly, but these came out pretty dadgum good and are more than mere novelty. It might be more than a seasonal, St. Patrick's Day item around here.

Blow that horn loudly! :) Those look great as well.

A Reuben from your sausages would be awesome. I used to make my own sauerkraut and 1000 island dressing, and would love making Reubens for the few days after St. Patrick's Day.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Doak, so are saying you bought some corned beef from the market, added your own spices and made sausage or are you saying you made the corned beef yourself and then made sausage with yours? Either way it looks very good.

Neither. I ground up some chuck roast, added cure and salt and spices, stuffed the casing, twisted, and let it cure for roughly 36 hours, give or take. It was something of a shortcut to corned beef, since I didn't have the time to cure a brisket or other roast. Plus, it just sounded whimsical.

I didn't stuff the whole second batch, so I have about a pound and a half to play with as patty sausage (St. Patty Sausage?) or to make a reuben burger or some other oddball thing.

I did see some recipes about grinding corned beef (whether home made or store bought), but I was concerned about controlling the salt content. The first batch was too salty. It also wasn't "corned beef" enough, and what "corned beef" was there was largely overpowered by smoke (I cooked it only by smoking, which I normally love, but not for this recipe).

For the second batch, I cut the salt by 25% (still plenty for a proper sausage), amped up the spices, cooked it to 145F by sous vide, and finished it in the pellet cooker. I really like how it turned out. It can be better, of course (can't everything?), so I'll probably keep playing with the recipe. Right now, though, I want to do something else.

I will be happy to post the current, working recipe when I get a chance. Right now, it's still a bunch of scribbles.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I thought I'd check in over here. I'm up to 45 pounds since starting this thread (including that batch). I think I just about have the "House" and "Corned Beef" recipes dialed in. I also tried a couple of chicken sausages, and I love the chicken flavor. The batch with herbs de Provence, capers, and Kalamata olives came out great!

Here's the latest, a 10 pound batch of the House (just after stuffing, and then smoked & grilled).

Keep on stuffing, y'all!

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DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
I thought I'd check in over here. I'm up to 45 pounds since starting this thread (including that batch). I think I just about have the "House" and "Corned Beef" recipes dialed in. I also tried a couple of chicken sausages, and I love the chicken flavor. The batch with herbs de Provence, capers, and Kalamata olives came out great!

Here's the latest, a 10 pound batch of the House (just after stuffing, and then smoked & grilled).

Keep on stuffing, y'all!

View attachment 1090438View attachment 1090439
You're up 45 pounds?? You'll to take a long walk or something.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
You're up 45 pounds?? You'll to take a long walk or something.

You'd think I was! Fortunately, I have a 19 year old son and a 16 year old son who eat this stuff almost as quickly as I can make it. That plate of sausage up there? That's all gone. That was lunch.
 
Apart from having the right ingredients and good quality meats, home made sausage making is all about the right small scale processing. Finding the right size of grinder wheel, two 2 coarse grinds are better then one coarse and a finer grind etc. Curing the fresh sausages before smoking makes a world of a difference. The sausages loose moisture in the process and gain a lot of flavor just by being more concentrated, besides the ripening. Problem was always temperature in the attic, so only certain weeks during winter time were suitable for this adventure but it turned out great. A handcranked sausage stuffer is a must in my book. They turn out so much better without airpockets. And of course use good casings, rinse and soak them before starting to have them workable and elastic. No fun otherwise.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Hi does someone have a receipe for italian sausage with fennel

I haven't made any Italian sausage, yet, but it's high on my list of things to try. HERE's a very basic recipe that sounds like a good starting point.
 
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